The Fungi of Wiltshire. 



171 



plants, owing to the want of the necessary descriptive books, which 

 if unaccompanied by figures are very unintelligible, at least to a 

 beginner, whilst the presence of plates renders such works too 

 expensive for general use. The literature too of the subject has, 

 till lately, remained scattered through a variety of scientific journals 

 and periodicals, so that an extensive library has been necessary to 

 any one, who wished to become master of it. 



In 1857 however M. Bailliere published a work entitled "Intro- 

 duction to Cryptogamic Botany," written by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley 

 our great authority on the Fungi of Britain, and in 1860 Messrs. 

 Reeves brought out the " Outlines of British Fungology " by the 

 same author, both works enriched by numerous figures, the former 

 relating chiefly to structural details, the latter giving coloured 

 representations of the larger and higher species of British Fungi. 

 Aided by these two works the labor of the student is now compara- 

 tively easy, so far at least as the higher tribes of these plants are 

 concerned. It is much to be desired that a work on the lower 

 tribes, on the same plan as the last named book, should be carried 

 on under the same auspices. 



It has been intimated to me that a slight sketch of the nature 

 and systematic arrangement of Fungi, according to the more recent 

 writers, should accompany the present list. I shall therefore avail 

 myself of the kind permission of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, to make 

 any use I like of his writings, by presenting his views to the readers 

 of the Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, as I am conscious that 

 in no other words could it be done in so concise, and intelligible a 

 manner. 



Fungi occupy a position in the vegetable kingdom intermediate 

 between Algae on the one side, and Lichens on the other, they 

 differ from the former in their place of growth, and from the 

 latter in deriving their nourishment from the substance on which 

 they grow through their mycelium. Algae growing in the water, or 

 in very damp places, imbibe their nourishment through their whole 

 surface, and are propagated by bodies called zoospores, tetraspores, 

 &c. Lichens, on the other hand, growing in the air, derive their 

 nutriment equally through their whole surface, and are propagated 



